Autonomous Driving and Civil Liability in Japan

In Japan, no legislation specifically regulating the issue of civil liability for autonomous driving exists. Therefore, this issue is dealt within the framework of the currently existing legislation applying to conventional driving. The basic pieces of legislation applying are the Civil Code (mainly its provisions on torts, and secondarily its provisions on contractual liability), the Act on Securing Compensation for Automobile Accidents and the Product Liability Act. In most cases, damage will be covered within the framework of the Act on Securing Compensation for Automobile Accidents by an insurance. Therefore, the Product Liability Act will be of limited use, and tort liability (as well as contractual liability) will be of secondary importance in practice. Since the currently existing legal framework is not structured to specifically deal with issues resulting from autonomous driving, various problems and discussions arise, and future legislative developments are anticipated.